Sis. Biz Warner in Hong Kong: WEEK 14

Hong Kong Temple.

Guess where we just got back from? The TEMPLE!!! YAY!! It was so amazing to be able to go to the HK temple where so many different people attend. I heard so many different languages spoken and it was so special! We get to attend the temple once every move. We are so lucky to have a temple so close to us! It was my first time there and my companion's last, so it was very bittersweet. So today is off to a wonderful start!!! and now I'm sitting at the Mac store in the mall with a huge stack of Book of Mormons sitting next to me. It's been a while since my last post and I have so much good news to share. First of all I want to share some miracles that me and Sister Escabarte experienced these past couple days.

We get to go "finding" here.

We had a lot of little miracles while we were out "finding" this week. It's cool how the Lord helps us to be in the right places just at the right times. On Thursday, we finished a lesson earlier than planned, so we began to head home to just work on calls and records. As we approached our apartment door I kept having the thought, "someone is waiting for you in Hang Hau." It came to me three times before I realized it was the Spirit and told Sister Escabarte. She said that she also thought that we weren't quite done with our work for the day too. We went right back outside, said a quick prayer, opened our eyes and saw the woman we needed to teach. We talked with her about the Restoration and some of the Plan of Salvation since her husband had passed away. We were able to make it back to our apartment by 9:30 feeling much more content with our days work. I know that the Lord needed us to speak with that woman and if we hadn't listened to the Spirit, she wouldn't have had that opportunity to hear the gospel. Another night, we felt impressed to "find" at a park we don't normally go to. As soon as we walked in, we found a less active from our ward who is unable to contact us because her husband does not like the church. But we were able to teach her and reschedule. Another night a less active member randomly asked if she could meet us at the church. She ended up showing up with two of her friends that we were able to teach about the Restoration. On Sunday, after being rejected several times, we turned the corner to see an old progressing investigator who stopped answering our calls. We were able to talk with her and she opened up about why she is hesitant to accept baptism. She also had her daughter with her and we were able to make an appointment with her daughter who is at a low point in her life right now.

"Finding" is amazing when you truly rely on the Lord. I love the "Powers of Heaven" that we recite every morning because it reminds us to have "faith that we can and will bring more people unto Christ." We have been working on that aspect and every night when we set goals we look and each other and say, "do you have the faith that we can arrange 3 member present lessons tomorrow?" Or when we plan where we will go "finding" we say, "where is the prepared investigator going to be tomorrow?" One night we were stumped as where to go "finding" the next day. We both prayed individually, wrote down the 3 places that we felt we should go and then showed each other. We had written the same 3 places in the same order. The Lord heads this work, and it would be impossible without the direction of the Spirit! I don't think I ever want to stop being a missionary :)

Is this city beautiful or what???!!

And some crazy things about Hong Kong...

1. It is SO HOT. We reached 100 % humidity this past week. So basically, you are swimming through the air and you have to carry tissues around with you to constantly wipe the sweat off your body. At home, I thought that would be gross, but here in Hong Kong you have to do it. Also, it rains a ton. It is almost typhoon season, so almost everyday it rains. One night we were out finding and one girl we contacted said, "don't you know it's yellow rain tonight? It's very dangerous! Don't you have a smart phone?" We showed her our cute little Nokia phone that we share and of course we wouldn't know if it was yellow rain or not....it was so funny! And yellow rain isn't actually yellow...it's just their rating scale :) But sure enough the rain hit and it dumps buckets and constant lightning and the loudest thunder ever!!!! And yellow rain isn't even the worst!!! I LOVE it!!!

2. When it rains all the creepy creatures come out. Like giant leeches the size of our hands and huge snails in spiral shells and thousands of worms that can climb the walls and big fat cockroaches. Yum.

3. One lady fed us dinner at our teaching appointment and she is from Thailand so she cooked yummy Thai food. I was eating one dish that was basically a bunch of fuzzy leaves in sauce, I was like this is way good but strange at the same time!! And then Sister Escabarte looked at me wide eyed and said "Sister don't eat it, it's tea!!" ooppss. No wonder it tasted funny ;) Should be okay!

4. HK is awesome because our investigators love to meet us in McDonalds. So we teach about 2 lessons a week in the crowded McDonalds. It's great!

5. We have a couple villages in our area that we can go knocking on doors, so we tried that this week. It was....a little scary. But we got to teach Hermione!! The villages are beautiful and so peaceful. They are in the jungle so we get attacked by bugs and have to be aware of wild dogs...and also avoid going to close to the Buddhist temples.

6. I feel like people really like to sleep here. Hehe, it's so funny. Actually, on Sunday, we were sitting with 3 of our investigators in sacrament meeting and all 3 of them fell asleep. I did all I could to keep from laughing!

7. Humidity....it made my scriptures mold...and my TOMS...and our walls. Haha. Oh man, every where we look we just keep finding more and more mold. But don't worry, Mom, it's normal and it won't kill us. Just allergic reactions and we try to keep it under control!

8. The more I think about the more and more weird English gets. English is my Comp's 4th language so she will ask me how to pronounce words or ask definitions and I'm like....why is English so strange?? Cantonese is awesome! I still don't have it down, but it is getting easier :)

9. Weird thing happened yesterday, I was in the jungle up in the mountains and a lady came up to me and asked if I was Mormon, in English!! SO I got talk with her in English, she is from the states and lives in a "Mormon town" so it was cool to realize I do know how to share the gospel...it's just the Cantonese I don't know.

10. The food is so yum. The parks are beautiful. Everyone is so healthy. The mountains are beautiful. The people are happy. and The Church is true! I LOVE HONG KONG!!

Keep staying strong everyone! This gospel isn't something we just live on Sundays, it is something we live for our entire lives...That is why the gospel changes lives, because it becomes your life :) Love you all, have a great week!